Study On Yang Wanli's Thought Of Yi-ology

Yang Wanli is not only a famous litterateur, but also a theorist. Taking the theory of Primary Qi as his philosophical foundation, he presented a universal panorama of everlasting changes. Starting from the perspective of "change" and adhering to the idea that "ZhouYi is the book where Saints learned about changes, he conducted study on Confucianism and ZhouTi. Adopted the approach of studying ZhouYi through history, he proved that ZhouYi contained the ways saints handling changes and among them the most essential was the spirit of compromise. The emphasis of his study lied in "use", and he attempted to make use of history to prove ZhouTi and extract the method of governing which could solve practical problems and realize reforms. His approach of studying ZhouYi through history surpassed his predecessors in that his citation of historical materials was more precise and the connection of history and Yi-ology was more natural thus fully developed the time-honored approach of studying ZhouYi through history which marked that studying ZhouYi through history became one school of Yi-ology. This thesis mainly based on ChenZhaiYiZhuan, coupled with reference to other philosophical works of Yang Wanli to conduct a primary exploration into Yang Wanli's thought.The first part is "Yang Wanli and Related Academic Concern". In this part, Yang Wanli's life experiences, especially his identity of theorist is discussed. In addition, this part explores the reasons why Yang Wanli studied ZhouYi according to the academic surroundings of South Song Dynasty.Part two deals with the basic idea of Yang Wanli's Yi-ology: ZhouYi is the book where saints learned about changes. This part first discusses the "theory of Primary Qi", which is the philosophical foundation of Yang Wanli, to present his outlook of universe, then educes the important thought of Yang Wanli's Yi-ology: spirit of compromise.Part three discusses Yang Wanli's understanding of spirits of Yi. He thought that spirits of Yi was the spirit of change, and it was the ultimate summary of the law of changing of all things. Spirits of Yi connotated in ZhouYi through saints' observation, drawing of divinatory symbols and appending of explanations.Part four discussed Yang Wanli's approach of studying ZhouYi through history. Through the review of development process of the approach, this part claims proves its far-reaching academic root. In addition, by analyzing particular examples in ChenZhaiYiZhuan, this part explains the specific application of studying ZhouYi through history by Yang Wanli and its feature of learning to govern from learning the spirits of Yi and emphasizing the rules between the emperor and his subjects.Part five relates other approaches of studying ZhouYi by Yang Wanli. Yan Wanli adopted many approaches, such as the traditional approach of biography, approach of image number and approach of mutual corroboration of the Six Classics. Yang Wanli's approaches of studying ZhouYi were very flexible.Part six deals with the appraisal of Yang Wanli's Yi-ology. Yang Wanli's Yi-ology had its uniqueness while following ChengYi's thought. He improved the approach of studying ZhouYi through history and marked the formation of the theory. Meanwhile, Yang Wanli shared the common fault of intellectuals in Song Dynasty of assuming the meanings of texts which should be treated rightly.